The difference between Joe Biden’s presidency and Donald Trump’s leadership couldn’t be more stark. During Biden’s thankfully short and stumbling tenure, his inner circle was consumed with one thing — keeping the visibly frail president upright and coherent long enough to get through the day. The Democratic Party’s broader needs were an afterthought, which no doubt hurt their candidates down the ballot in 2024.
Now look at Trump in 2025 — a leader in full command of his movement and his message. Instead of retreating to the sidelines, he’s directing his political machine to pour time, energy, and resources into key battlegrounds like Virginia and New Jersey.
That’s something Biden never did.
According to Axios, Trump’s political team has launched million-dollar-plus micro-targeting operations in both states, zeroing in on Republican voters who typically sit out odd-year elections. These aren’t standard party efforts — they’re full-blown, presidential-level turnout operations designed to expand the GOP’s base and reshape the political map.
It’s a nationalized push coming directly from Trump’s orbit, and it shows exactly why his movement continues to dominate while Democrats keep scrambling for direction.
Under Biden, off-year election spending was business as usual — funneled through the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Governors Association, and the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee. Sure, the DNC threw around a few million dollars — about $5 million in Virginia in 2021 and $1.2 million in 2023 — but that was just generic party spending, not a strategic operation driven by Biden himself. There was no presidential push, no personal involvement, and certainly no enthusiasm. Just the same stale, bureaucratic “coordinated campaigns” that fail to inspire anyone.
Trump, on the other hand, has completely rewritten the playbook. His own network — from his PACs to his precision data teams to the newly Trump-aligned RNC leadership — is directly investing in off-year races. This isn’t some faceless party effort; it’s the president himself throwing his campaign machine behind Republican candidates in key states.
And the best part? He’s doing it as a so-called “lame duck.” The same media that panicked about Trump supposedly seeking a “third term” can’t explain how he’s still the one driving national momentum for the GOP. It’s the clearest sign yet that Trump isn’t just leading the Republican Party — he is the Republican Party.
The RNC today is Trump’s RNC — fully aligned, fully energized, and working hand-in-glove with the president’s own political network to win two key governorships in an off-year election cycle. Trump isn’t just supporting candidates; he’s rebuilding the Republican turnout machine from the ground up. He’s giving the GOP a massive head start heading into 2026 and even 2028. The result? A party that looks more united, more focused, and far more disciplined than the fractured Democrats. Trump is doing more than leading — he’s building a legacy.
This moment is also a critical test. Can the GOP do what Democrats utterly failed to do under Joe Biden — turn a president’s personal popularity and fundraising power into sustained, down-ballot strength? If Trump’s machine can shift even a few percentage points of low-propensity Republican voters in Virginia and New Jersey, it could flip tight legislative races and cement a permanent ground operation that keeps delivering wins long after this election cycle.
Once again, Trump is doing what Biden never could: turning movement energy into measurable results and in places where Republicans never dared to tread.
